A Prologue
What's going on over here and what comes next
Greetings, dear readers and friends-
You may have noticed that the production line here at Totally Grote has been operating in fits and starts lately. We are officially off of the weekly releases and on the ‘you’ll get it when it’s ready’ schedule. It turns out that housekeeping, parenting, and work are quite demanding of a man’s time (gee, who would have thought?), and Totally Grote has unfortunately found itself on the back burner.
And with the weather taking a turn for the better out here on the prairie, all of those outdoor projects and fair-weather recreation activities are going to be eating up more of my time in the coming months, leaving a bit less time and energy to go into stunning and thoughtful essays for you, dear reader.
Of course you all still have my sincere gratitude and respect, but when it comes down to working on an essay or doing something fun with my wife, daughter, and the dog, then sorry, but we’re going to the park.
But don’t despair; I’m not throwing in the towel yet. I’ve still got a long list of subjects that I want write about, and intend on giving them the full Totally Grote treatment sooner or later. I am a quality > quantity kind of guy, and that means that I am going to take as much time as I need to get my stuff just the way I want it. What that means for you is that you’ll just have to be patient and trust that I will have something good for you eventually, infrequent though it may be.
So that’s where we’re at. For today, though, let me give you a little taste of what’s coming next, as I sketch out what I see in the immediate future for Totally Grote.
The next two essays that you will be getting are going to be companion pieces; separate, but to be taken together. The first will be an examination of the political Right, followed by the Left. Not so much a shot and a chaser, but more spaghetti and meatballs; two distinct parts which constitute a whole. In this case, the whole being modern American politics, culture, thought and being.
I’m not going to go into any of the actual subject matter today, but I want to frame out a little bit what I want this pair of essays to accomplish, mostly for my benefit, to make it clear in my mind.
This is not going to be an exhaustive look at the history and foundations of these distinct traditions, both because I am scarcely qualified for such a task and because you can find that kind of thing done much better in places other than here.
What I am going to do is discuss the Right and the Left as I perceive them from where I stand, through the prism of my thoughts, observations, and life experiences. Given the political conditions during my adult life, and particularly in the last few years, this divide and the distinctions therein is something which I have given a lot of thought over the years.
Because these topics can be either so relationship-ruiningly contentious or frustratingly hollow in everyday conversation, and also because finding people who are willing and able to have honest, humble, and open discussions about these matters has proven extremely difficult, I am turning to my own little intellectual sanctuary, Totally Grote, to hash out my thoughts on these important matters in a way that I find satisfactory.
I also want these essays to serve as signposts for where I am at on these things currently. Had I written these essays five years ago or five years from now, they would be undoubtedly different, focusing on different things and coming to different conclusions. But for the purposes of posterity and for charting the evolution of my thinking, I am hoping that these will serve as useful markers for myself in the future, while providing some thoughtful and entertaining reading for the Totally Grote fan club (merch pending).
So this week I plan to get started on transmuting my pages of notes and accumulated thoughts on the American Right into a sound essay for you, dear reader. I don’t know when the hell it might be done, but I will do my best to make sooner rather than later.
Until then, get out there, get some sun, rejoice that you don’t need that jacket and those thick socks anymore, and you’ll find me in your inbox before you know it.
As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to take care of yourselves and each other.
Peace and love,
Nathan
